In an announcement released earlier today, the government has announced a National Planning Level (NPL) for new international student commencements of 270k for the calendar year 2025.
The announcement covers off the Higher Ed and Vocational sectors:
Higher education
For publicly funded universities, the managed growth approach, in aggregate, will result in around 145,000 new international student commencements in 2025, which is around 2023 levels.
It will also support universities who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and uneven patterns of student returns.
Individual limits will be outlined in an International Student Profile (ISP). Publicly funded universities have been provided with their indicative ISPs.
In developing ISPs, a number of factors have been considered based on data provided by universities, including recent levels of new international student commencements and the concentration of international enrolments in their onshore student cohorts.
From 2026, the Albanese Government will encourage universities to create new supplies of student housing to benefit both domestic and international students as part of their future growth.
For other universities and for non-university higher education providers, in aggregate, their new international student commencements in 2025 will be around 30,000.
Vocational education and training (VET)
The Albanese Government’s managed approach will see around 95,000 new VET international student commencements in 2025.
Providers with a higher ratio of international students will receive a lower allocation, encouraging them to diversify their student base.
The release states this will be “Subject to the passage of legislation, from 1 January 2025, this new system of managed growth and enhanced integrity measures will result in the replacement of Ministerial Direction 107.”
See the release in full here.
